Fox (known by a variety of different names, including Mesquakie (Meskwaki), Mesquakie-Sauk, Mesquakie-Sauk-Kickapoo, Sauk-Fox, and Sac and Fox) is an Algonquian language, spoken by a thousand Meskwaki, Sauk, and Kickapoo in various locations in the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

and in

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Dialects

The three distinct dialects are: * Fox or (Meskwaki language) (also called Mesquakie, Meskwaki) * Sauk or (Thâkîwaki language) (also rendered Sac), and * Kickapoo or ''Kiikaapoa'' (also rendered ; considered by some to be a closely related but distinct language). If Kickapoo is counted as a separate language rather than a dialect of Fox, then only between 200 and 300 speakers of Fox remain. Extinct Mascouten was most likely another dialect, though it is scarcely attested.

Revitalization

Most speakers are elderly or middle-aged, making it highly

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

. The tribal school at the Meskwaki Settlement in Iowa incorporates bilingual education for children. In 2011, the Meskwaki Sewing Project was created, to bring mothers and girls together "with elder women in the Meskwaki Senior Center sewing traditional clothing and learning the Meskwaki language." Prominent scholars doing research on the language include Ives Goddard and Lucy Thomason of the Smithsonian Institution and Amy Dahlstrom of the University of Chicago.

Phonology

The consonant phonemes of Fox are given in the table below. The eight vowel phonemes are: short and long . Other than those involving a consonant plus or , the only possible consonant cluster is . Until the early 1900s, Fox was a phonologically very conservative language and preserved many features of Proto-Algonquian; records from the decades immediately following 1900 are particularly useful to Algonquianists for this reason. By the 1960s, however, an extensive progression of phonological changes had taken place, resulting in the loss of intervocalic semivowels and certain other features.

Grammar

According to ''A Concise Dictionary of the Sauk Language'' by Gordon Whittaker, the language's nouns can be divided into animate and inanimate groups. Animate nouns end in -a (ex: tîtîwa /ˈti:.ti:.wa/, "blue jay (bird)"). To pluralise most animate nouns, the ending is transformed from -a to -aki (ex: tîtîwa -> tîtîwaki). The few exceptions that exist have specific forms, according to the Dictionary. Inanimate nouns typically end in -i (ex: mâtethi /ˈma:.tet.hi/, "knife"). To pluralise most inanimate nouns, the ending is transformed from -i to -ani (ex: mâtethi -> mâtethani). Like the animate nouns, the few exceptions that exist also have specific forms, according to the Dictionary. Verbs can be divided into transitive and intransitive; transitive involves two parties (i.e "I give it to you!" / "Kemînêwene!"), while intransitive is one party (i.e "You're alive." / "Kepemâtethi.") This conjugation is only for verbs that end in -amwa; all other animate transitive verbs take the same conjugation as the animate intransitive verbs.

Vocabulary

Meskwaki numerals are as follows:

Writing systems

Besides the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

, Fox has been written in two indigenous scripts.Coulmas (1999: 153–155)

Fox I

" Fox I" is an

abugida An abugida (; from Geʽez: , )sometimes also called alphasyllabary, neosyllabary, or pseudo-alphabetis a segmental Writing systems#Segmental writing system, writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as units; each unit ...

based on the cursive French alphabet (see Great Lakes Algonquian syllabics). Consonants written by themselves are understood to be syllables containing the vowel . They are: Vowels are written by adding dots to the consonant:

Fox II

"Fox II" is a consonant–vowel alphabet. According to Coulmas, is not written (as is not written in Fox I). Vowels (or plus a vowel) are written as cross-hatched tally marks.

Notes

References

* * * * * *

External links

Native Languages of the Americas: Mesquakie-SaukFox texts (1907), ed. William JonesThe Owl Sacred Pack of the Fox Indians (1921), ed. Truman MichelsonThe Autobiography of a Fox Indian Woman (1895), ed. Truman Michelson
*
OLAC resources in and about the Meskwaki languageOLAC resources in and about the Kickapoo languageA Concise Dictionary of the Sauk Language
, 2005, Gordon Whittaker, The Sac & Fox National Public Library, Stroud, Oklahoma {{Authority control Algonquian languages Native American language revitalization Indigenous languages of the North American eastern woodlands Indigenous languages of the North American Plains Indigenous languages of Oklahoma Endangered Algic languages Articles citing INALI Endangered Indigenous languages of the Americas Kickapoo